Opinion
The Thaiger Opinion Columns
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Sponsored A healthy tomorrow starts today: Celebrate the great American Smokeout day
The Great American Smokeout, held this year on November 17, is a nationwide event that encourages smokers to take their first steps towards a smoke-free life. If you’re an expat in Thailand, this day could be a timely reminder to...
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Mayor to tackle Patong corruption
Chalermluck Kebsup, 50, was voted in as Patong Mayor in the polls on April 26 (story here). She has a master’s degree in political science from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University and was Phuket Member of Parliament for 10 years, from 2001 to 2010. She is also a Patong native and a prominent businesswoman. Ms Chalermluck has also received the state…
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Save the living dead: put down the smartphones
PHUKET: Having recently become addicted to the American TV show The Walking Dead, where the survivors of a zombie-virus plague battle for survival in the post-apocalyptic landscape of America, I couldn’t help but think about a more insidious zombie plague that is slowly taking over the world. The zombies are all around us, everywhere… they could be your best friend,…
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Balancing good and bad in a digital age
PHUKET: There is an apocryphal “curse” attributed to the ancient Chinese that is typically rendered as: “May you live in interesting times”. While its origins are sketchy at best, its popularity appears to be growing in this new era of digital information overload. The days of a popular culture developed through a limited mainstream media are long gone. Content consumers…
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When noise is good
PHUKET: I stopped at my local 7-Eleven on the way home from work the other night, tired out from a day of peering at my computer screen and mildly irritated for the umpteenth time at the inconvenience of having to buy something – drinking water – that I get out of the tap where I come from. As I entered…
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Legal enigmas: foreigners beware
PHUKET: The news stories that have spilled across the pages of the Phuket Gazette over the past few weeks have thrown into sharp relief what it takes for a foreigner to live on this paradise island. A Russian woman who had made her home here being refused re-entry to Thailand last month because officers from the Immigration Bureau suspected her…
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Policing a Protestocracy
PHUKET: Few stories in recent memory better reflect the collective failure of local police to maintain law and order than the recent blockade of Thepkrasattri Road by residents of Thalang (story here). The closure paralyzed traffic in the north of the island for more than eight hours, inconveniencing untold thousands of visitors – many of whom will never choose to…
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Time for a resolution checkup
PHUKET: The Thai New Year has come and gone, and I can’t help but think about the resolutions I made for my own new year in January. For Westerners like me, the half-year point is quickly approaching and thoughts of resolutions made in good faith on January 1 are probably a distant memory. As I stared into the face of…
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Public transport and closing legal loopholes critical, says Phuket’s new Senator
Phuket Senator Chaiyot Punyawai, 47, officially became Senator of Phuket on April 10. A graduate in law from Ramkhamhaeng University and now studying for his master’s in law, Senator Chaiyot works in a local law firm and is the president of the Phuket branch of the Lawyers Council of Thailand. Here, Mr Chaiyot talks about the role of senators and…
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Phuket’s most dangerous job
Saijai Luesup, 48, has been working as the Workplace Safety Department of Phuket Provincial Labor Protection and Welfare Office chief for almost four years. She has a bachelor’s degree in public health from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University. PHUKET: Construction sites pose the greatest danger to workers in Phuket. Because of this we are very thorough with our safety inspections, which…
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Can’t wash your hands with dirty water
PHUKET: Hardly a week passes nowadays without a damaging news report about water-related issues in Phuket. Of these, none could be more harmful to the island’s reputation than reports of untreated wastewater flowing directly into the sea at some of the island’s most popular beaches. Such reports are nothing new. Sadly, untreated wastewater entering Patong Bay is now so common…
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Ticking off the Songkran bucket list – respect before revelry
PHUKET: By the time you read this, I hope you took a plastic bag with you to the shop to buy your copy of the Phuket Gazette. Songkran has once again come and gone, having been celebrated by the traditional bucket load. Most Phuket oldtimers I know choose to stay indoors during the Thai New Year, happily avoiding the deluges…
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Sustaining Phuket people and environment
Sayan Chanachaiwong, 56, has been Kathu District Chief for about five months. With a master’s degree in political science from Ramkhamhaeng University, he worked as district chief in the restive Deep South province of Narathiwat for more than nine years, most recently in Su-ngai Padi, before coming to Phuket. Here, he talks about his three priorities for Kathu. PHUKET: My…
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Travel a la carte
PHUKET: When I first came to Thailand, I came to travel. I went north and south, south and east. Sadly, since I moved here permanently, I find myself lacking the time to explore this country, and if I manage to secure some time off, I travel abroad. Luckily, there is a way to travel even when short on time and…
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Phuket double jeopardy: too much, too fast
Former Phuket Senator Tunyaratt Achariyachai, 59, represented Phuket in Thailand’s Upper House for six years. She graduated with a master’s degree in public administration from Manila University in the Philippines. Here, Ms Tunyaratt identifies her proudest achievements during her term as senator and what she still sees as the critical issues facing Phuket. PHUKET: When I was voted into office,…
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Phuket Opinion: Three cheers for clean police
PHUKET: The opening of the Karon Police Station in 2012 to serve the southwest of the island was a well-intended move, one expected to take pressure off the Chalong police who were previously responsible for the entire south of the island. Events in recent months have shown that the truncation did not stop the scandals that have plagued the Chalong…
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Tempest in a longtail
PHUKET: I could feel the Sea Sheperd weekend warrior rising up in me, ready for battle, after reading about the “Yamu Night Fishing Game.” As a sunny-weather marine conservationist, I have no issues with sport fishing competitions. However, I suffered a knee-jerk reaction to seeing “sharks and rays” listed as a category for the Yamu fishing tournament. Glimpses of proud…
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Essence of life endangered in Phuket
PHUKET: It is sad, but not surprising, that it took a recent public intervention to finally stop a well-known local Phuket businessman from backfilling an important water storage reservoir on the island. Given our nation’s growing reputation internationally as a hotspot for protests, it is difficult to fathom why so few demonstrations on the island are ever fomented by the…
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Stop killing sharks
PHUKET: I came across awful images of a man gutting a juvenile blacktip reef shark on Facebook via Go Eco Phuket and was horrified to see that it happened on one of our local beaches, Kata Noi (story here). It was clear that this man was a spear fisherman from the wetsuit he was wearing and the spear hole on…
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Hooked on saving sea life
Wisit Itthiwarapornkul, 50, is the president of Go Eco Phuket. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in marine science from Kasetsart University and has worked in the dive industry for more than 10 years. Here, he talks about ways to resolve conflicting local interests in the sea and makes suggestions about what we all can do to preserve the health…
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Corralling young Phuket minds for a collective economic community
PHUKET: After years of apparent neglect, it is good to see the Embassy of Myanmar’s Labour Attache taking steps to ensure that at least some of the untold thousands of Myanmar workers on the island are being treated fairly by their Thai employers (story here). The history of Myanmar workers in Phuket is a tale of sadness and suffering that…
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Helping youngsters to get back on the right track
Chatree Taveesup, 47, is a Krabi native who graduated from the Faculty of Law at Ramkhamhaeng University in 1989. He worked at Juvenile Observation and Protection Centers in Songkhla, Phang Nga and Yala before becoming Director of the Juvenile Center in Phuket in 2012. Here, he talks about the problem of juvenile crime in Phuket and suggests ways to deal…
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Outdated laws need overhaul
PHUKET: The recent minor fining of five men who confessed to the illegal felling of protected forest reserves on the island highlights the need for an overhaul of the antiquated Forest Act BE 2484 (1941), the terms of which are sadly out of date in this day and age of substantial monoculture, dwindling biodiversity and ever-increasing human overpopulation. Loud but…
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Phuket Opinion: Casting aside modern conveniences for an island dream
PHUKET: With the seemingly endless parade of new condo developments springing up like mushrooms all over the island, it’s clear that quite soon, the majority of Phuket’s residents will be living in high density housing. When I first moved here, I too found it convenient to move into a modest, reasonably priced apartment block. I considered it a stop-gap measure.…
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Phuket Opinion: Preventing passport malpractice
PHUKET: The revelation that two passengers aboard the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 were travelling on passports stolen in Phuket (story here) once again highlights the need for a serious and sustained crackdown on the use of travel documents as collateral on motorbike, car, and jet-ski rentals. The need to end this ridiculous practice has already been the subject of…
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Phuket Opinion: Road safety: what we’re doing wrong
Thanapong Jinvong, 50, is Director of the Academy of Road Safety at the National Health Foundation and also works at the Department of Disease Control. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University with a specialization in epidemiology. Here, he talks about three ways to improve road safety in Thailand, which ranks third in the world…
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Phuket Opinion: Marketing failing airport bus service
PHUKET: The operators of the airport bus service linking Phuket International Airport with Patong need to improve their marketing approach as quickly as possible if they hope to turn around the service’s slow start before the high season draws to a close. It came as somewhat of a surprise that the service, launched with considerable fanfare in July last year,…
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Phuket Opinion: Good news for Phuket life on the road
PHUKET: My car has been filthy for weeks, covered in the dust that is everywhere now, due to the lack of rain. When the light hits it just right in the morning, I have trouble seeing out the back window. I don’t want to wash it at home because I have no outside source of water, and I haven’t taken…
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Phuket Opinion: Extending a helping hand at the hospital
Chananan Sutsadang, 51, is a native of Bangkok. She has a BA in Business Administration from Loma Linda University and lived in the United States for 20 years before moving back to Thailand. She worked in health care and as a teacher before joining the customer service staff at Mission Hospital last year. Here, she talks about differences between Thai…
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Phuket Opinion: Navigating the ‘expat hump’
PHUKET: I openly admit that I had no idea what I was walking into when I decided to move to Phuket last August. Not only had I never been to Thailand, but I had never even left my vacuum-sealed bubble of a home country: America. The gravity of my move became immediately apparent as I left the airport. The sights…
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Phuket Opinion: Forging a place for women on the force
Chollada Chokdeesrijun, 23, graduated from the Royal Police Cadet Academy last year and started working at the Chalong Police Station on November 1. Originally from Bangkok, she and her family moved to Phang Nga when she was 13 years old. Here Lt Chollada talks about why it is important to have women on the police force, and the challenges she…
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